Illness caused by contaminated or improperly prepared foods cause up to 81 million people to get sick each year, with almost 9000 of these illnesses leading to death. Children are among the people most at risk for serious illness from food poisoning. To protect your child from germs that cause food poisoning, it is important to practice food safety techniques.

A virus, bacteria, or parasite and cause food poisoning can contaminate almost any food. Foods can also make you sick if they are contaminated with pesticides or other toxins. The most common symptoms of food poisoning include vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, nausea and fever and they begin a short time after eating a contaminated food. In most people symptoms are mild and clear up quickly, but food poisoning can lead to dehydration, kidney failure and even death.

Preventing food poisoning

• Keep your refrigerator at or below 41 degrees and your freezer at 0 degrees.

• When shopping for foods, quickly return home and refrigerate perishable foods and place bags that contain meats, poultry, fish and eggs separately from other foods to avoid contamination.

• Consider using a plastic cutting board to prepare foods, since bacteria can become trapped in the grooves of wooden cutting boards.

• Wash your hands for twenty seconds with soap and warm water before preparing foods, before you begin to prepare a new food and again before you serve the food.

• Rinse fruits and vegetables before serving or eating.

• Thaw and marinate foods in the refrigerator, instead of leaving them out at room temperature.

• Keep pets away from all areas where you prepare foods.

• Do not eat raw eggs.